To build/install HDF5 on Unix systems from the root of the
distribution directory:

   * Build the ./src/H5config.h file and Makefiles by saying:

	./configure

     You can say `./configure --help' to see a list of options.  On
     common option is to specify the prefix directory where the
     libraries, header files, and programs are installed.  The default
     is to install them in /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/include, and
     /usr/local/bin, but you can specify some other path instead of
     /usr/local by saying:

	./configure --prefix=/usr

     You can also override detection of certain things with
     environment variables:

	CC		Name of the C compiler to use.
	CFLAGS		Alternate C compiler flags.
	CPPFLAGS	Alternate C preprocessor flags.
	MAKE		Name of the make(1) program.

     For instance (assuming /bin/sh), it is common to say:

	CPPFLAGS=-DNDEBUG CC=gcc CFLAGS=-O3 ./configure


   * Build library targets by saying:

	make

     If you ran configure like (assuming /bin/sh):

	MAKE=gmake ./configure

     then you'll want to be sure to use `gmake' also when you build
     the library.  If you're re-building the library after changing
     some files and you're not using GNU make and gcc, then you should
     say `make clean' from the top directory between each build
     attempt.

   * Install the library, header files, and programs by saying:

	make install

     This step will fail unless you have permission to write to the
     installation directories.

To build/install HDF5 on non-Unix systems from the root of the
distribution directory:

   * To be written later.